


In the Dead of Night

by demishock



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, IgNoct, Ignoct Week, M/M, Status Effects, ignoctweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 04:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20076403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demishock/pseuds/demishock
Summary: "'Fight the Tyraneant,' he said! 'It'll be fun,' he said!"





	In the Dead of Night

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ignoct week 2019, for the Day 4 prompt, "One of the boys gets hit with a status effect."
> 
> voxanonymi (spasmodicIntrigue) gets my thanks yet again, for the continued moral support as well as the idea for what to do with the water. The status effect itself was pulled from previous FF games (as usual, my mind was mostly on FFIX).
> 
> Sorry for missing Day 3. :( Day 4 spiraled a bit out of control and needed my attention, and I couldn't get to both. As it is, I think I'm posting this late, because time zones, but here we go anyway!

Noctis had to admit that today was _really_ not going according to plan.

And just in case he forgot, Prompto had been making sure to remind him of it every couple of minutes.

"'Fight the Tyraneant,' he said! 'It'll be fun,' he said!"

"I definitely never said anything about it being fun," Noctis snapped, phasing out of the way of the aforementioned creature's massive club of a tail.

"Would you two just shut up and FOCUS?!" Gladio snarled. He swept his greatsword in an impressive arc, deflecting the tooth-filled maw that was bearing down on him.

"Focus on THIS!" Prompto crowed, jumping over its tail himself and jamming his circular saw into the joint of one of its legs.

The beast gave a deafening roar, leaping into the air with a truly frightening ease, given its size. It would have taken Prompto with it if he hadn't had the presence of mind to cast his machine back into the Armiger. As it was, he was left scrambling out of the way as the Tyraneant slammed back to the ground where he'd just been standing. The resulting shockwave knocked them all off their feet.

Noctis made a mental note to thank Ignis later for forcing them all to eat those beanball croquettes last night. Much as he hated beans, the last thing any of them needed right now was to be Confused and Enfeebled by this thing. They were struggling enough as it was.

Having missed its target, the Tyraneant spun around, seeking new prey.

"Incoming!" Gladio warned.

"Got it!" Noctis called back, staggering to his feet and raising his own blade just in time to block and parry. He got in a few good swings himself before he had to warp back out of the way.

"Circle around, quickly!" Ignis's voice carried from somewhere behind it, and Noctis followed the sound, appearing at his side an instant later in a flash of blue. Ignis gave him a nod, and then they were both in motion again, striking in tandem with their spears. Ignis had figured out early on that this thing had very few weaknesses, and they were exploiting all of them to the best of their abilities.

In Noctis's defense, they'd been expecting a regular, run-of-the-mill Treant when they'd accepted this hunt. The description they'd been given matched, and Noctis had stocked the Armiger full of fire spells in preparation. It had turned out to be for nothing, though; this wizened older version wasn't nearly as flammable as the others they'd fought. The spells smoldered and died almost as soon as Noctis cast them, and it wasn't worth the risk to his friends to keep firing them off.

So they were making do with just the weapons at their disposal, doing their best to wear it down. They'd been at it for a while now, and it was tiring work, but it seemed to be going pretty well, all things considered. 

He should have known better than to jinx himself like that.

In the wake of their blindside attack, the Tyraneant was thrashing about, clearly furious. As Gladio moved to cover Prompto so he could dart in to strike at its legs again, the creature chose instead to focus its attention on Noctis once more.

He hadn't recovered enough from his last warp to phase out of the way.

There was no time for an Ether, and he registered Ignis's shout of alarm a split second too late. Something slammed into him with enough force to send him sprawling. He hit the ground and rolled, barely reacting in time to bring his arms up to protect his head. He skidded to a stop, dizzy and disoriented, but he knew he had to get up - had to move. Ears ringing, he forced himself to his knees, then swayed to his feet. Gladio was running toward him while Prompto distracted the still-flailing Tyraneant as best he could on his own.

'Ignis…' he thought blearily, his brain struggling to catch back up with the action. 'Where'd Ignis go…?'

Gladio reached him and said something, but everything sounded muddled and he couldn't make it out. There was a flash of light out of the corner of Noctis's eye, and then he sucked in a breath as the Ether took effect, magic flooding through his system and shocking him back to his senses.

"Shit," was all he had to say for himself, and Gladio put a steadying hand on his shoulder.

His eyes focused, and he finally spotted Ignis a few meters away, covered in dirt and blood, and favoring his left arm. He clutched it close to himself as he got to his own feet, but he looked nothing short of relieved when Noctis met his eyes.

Noctis lurched toward him, but Gladio held him at bay.

"I've got Iggy; get back in there and help Prompto," Gladio said, and although every fiber of his being was screaming at him to make sure Ignis was okay first, he also knew Gladio was right: Prompto wasn't going to last against this thing alone, and then they'd be even more screwed.

Putting all his trust in Gladio, he threw his spear and warped back into the fray.

\---

It was a grueling battle, but once Ignis and Gladio rejoined them, they managed to fell the giant beast of a tree.

Prompto dropped onto the ground the moment they were sure it was dead, lying on his back like a starfish as he tried to catch his breath.

"Never. Doing that. Again." he huffed, the exhaustion clear in his voice. "Death by lumber is NOT how I want to go. It's way too uncool."

"Agreed," Noctis conceded.

"You guys are the ones always saying you wished money grew on trees," Gladio pointed out. "Once we turn in this bounty, you'll technically be getting your wish."

"But at what cost?" Prompto asked.

Noctis tuned out their post-battle sniping to take stock of how everyone was faring. They were all pretty banged up, but Ignis in particular had a nasty-looking gash on his arm. Noctis noted with some surprise that it was the same arm he'd been holding onto before. A quick check of the Armiger revealed that they still had a few curatives left.

He cut a meaningful look at Gladio, who shrugged and shook his head.

Typical. Ignis must have insisted that he didn't need one. It certainly wouldn’t have been the first time.

Noctis wasn't about to let this one slide.

"That looks bad," he said, motioning at the wound.

"Just a scratch," Ignis replied.

So Noctis had been right; he _was_ trying to downplay it, as usual. Noctis reached into the Armiger for an Elixir, moving closer and ignoring Ignis's protest.

"Hell of a scratch," he said. "C'mere."

"Really, Noct; we shouldn't waste supplies unnecessarily."

But Ignis wasn't fooling him. He'd winced when Noctis touched the afflicted arm, and he was pretty sure that if they didn't get it healed up now, it'd get infected. Ignis already looked feverish as it was, by the sheen of sweat on his brow and the abnormal brightness to his eyes. And it may have just been a trick of the light, but Noctis could swear his skin looked darker than normal.

Besides which, it was never a waste if it was for Ignis.

"Just hold still," he muttered, and cracked the Elixir over Ignis's battered arm.

The scream that tore from Ignis's throat would haunt Noctis for the rest of his life.

"Whoa, what the hell?!"

Gladio rushed over as Ignis clutched his arm and sank to the ground, dragging Noctis down with him.

"What happened?" Prompto asked, sitting up in alarm.

Ignis groaned and curled in on himself, unable to answer.

"I… I don't know," Noctis admitted. "I just gave him an Elixir and..."

He waved helplessly at Ignis's prone form.

"Sounds like it might've made it worse," Gladio said. "Let me see."

Noctis shifted so that Ignis was half in his lap, unwilling to move out of the way entirely. Gladio made it work, kneeling beside them both as Prompto hovered over his shoulder. Ignis made a weak sound of distress as Gladio grabbed hold of his arm, but didn't have the strength to pull away. Gladio took one look at the putrefied flesh and hissed through his teeth.

"Shit."

"That all you've got, Survival Expert?" Noctis asked, fear and worry manifesting as sarcasm. He knew now wasn't the time, but he'd really been hoping for something a little more insightful.

Gladio apparently had the presence of mind to ignore his outburst, because he kept calm when he replied, "Could be some sort of poison. Those Tyraneant things are basically Treants on steroids, and those can have all kinds of nasty toxins."

"Um, guys… Iggy's starting to look very much the opposite of 'okay,'" Prompto said. "We've gotta do something…"

"I'm open to suggestions," Noctis snapped. "That Elixir was the strongest thing I had on me."

"Try an Antidote," Gladio ordered.

Whatever this was, it didn't look like any poison Noctis had seen thus far on their journey, but they didn't have anything else to go on. So, following Gladio's directive, he cracked an Antidote.

Ignis sucked in a ragged breath, and the vicious gash on his arm remained unchanged.

Noctis's heart sank.

This wasn't happening.

"Why isn't it working?" Prompto's voice had gone up an octave. "Do either of you have a Remedy? Cuz I'm all out…"

"Think there's some in the car," Gladio said, pivoting in place. "Get him on my back; we need to move."

Prompto came to Noctis's aid, and together they managed to drape Ignis's arms over Gladio's shoulders enough that he could accomplish the rest himself, getting to his feet.

Ignis's complete lack of response to being fussed over told Noctis everything he needed to know about how bad it really was. Gladio took off toward the entrance, and he and Prompto hurried to follow suit.

"Why the hell are they in the Regalia and not the Armiger?" Noctis asked, jogging to keep up with Gladio's longer strides.

"There's a whole backup stash in the car, to keep us from using them all up by accident in the middle of a fight. Iggy's idea," Gladio said.

"That's our Iggy," Prompto said, managing a shaky smile. Then, to Ignis, he added, "We'll be there in a jiffy; just hang in there…"

Not for the first time, Noctis silently cursed the Marilith that had attacked him as a kid. If he hadn't been injured back then, maybe he could have used his healing magic properly and actually been able to help. Or maybe he could have drawn whatever toxin was causing this to happen out himself, instead of having to rely on stupid energy drinks and other placeholders to transfer his diluted power.

As it was, he could feel himself flagging, his stamina already worn down from the fight. He dug as deep as he could to keep up with Gladio and Prompto as they hauled ass out of the woods and back to the mountain path, but by the time they broke the tree line, he was clutching his chest as he struggled to breathe.

"Noct…" Ignis croaked against Gladio's shoulder, but Gladio didn't break his pace.

"He'll catch up."

Prompto hesitated, his head swiveling between Gladio and Noctis as the gap between them grew.

"H-Hey, hold on!" Prompto called to Gladio's retreating back. "We can't get separated! What it the daemons come out?!"

Because of course, now that he mentioned it, the sun was already setting.

Great. Just great.

"You have a better idea?" Gladio asked darkly.

"Actually, yeah; I do!"

That stopped him in his tracks. Noctis planted his hands on his knees, gasping for air even as he silently thanked Prompto for stalling him.

"Spit it out," Gladio snapped.

"The witch's shop!" Prompto said. He pointed, and sure enough, they'd just passed the wooden signpost marking the fork in the path. "It's a lot closer than the car, right?"

"Kimya," Noctis realized, straightening. "You're right."

"Right?!"

Noctis shot a pleading look at Gladio, who nodded, his expression softening somewhat.

"Fair enough; good call. I'm pretty sure she had Remedies in stock the last time we were out here. Let's hope she hasn't had too many visitors in the meantime."

They all veered down the narrow dirt footpath, forced to go single-file as the trees closed in around them. Noctis hoped that Kimya's daemon-repelling potions were for real and not just hearsay.

The moment they broke through to the clearing, Prompto put on a burst of speed, ducking around Gladio and rushing straight for the cottage door, pounding on it with his fist.

"Hey! Hello?! Anyone home?!"

"Calm down; you won't be doing Iggy any favors if you give the old woman a heart attack," Gladio admonished as he and Noctis crossed the remaining distance.

Noctis glanced at Ignis. His breathing was shallow and - Noctis was sure now - his skin was discolored, tinged a sickly reddish-brown. Noctis had never seen him in such a bad way. His agonized scream from earlier was still echoing in Noctis's head, and he hated himself for being the one to have caused him that kind of pain.

If they got their hands on a Remedy and it didn't work, he didn't know what he was going to do.

The cottage door creaked open under Prompto's barrage, revealing the wizened face of the Witch of the Woods herself.

She swept them all with a look, then stood aside, ushering them in. The quarters were cramped; the décor, sparse. Noctis felt a pang of guilt, even though her banishment from the Hunters had nothing whatsoever to do with him.

He turned to Kimya, but she spoke before he could.

"Badly hurt, your friend appears. Right you were, to seek my aid."

She motioned Gladio toward a bed that looked like it had never once been slept in. He lowered Ignis carefully onto it, and they all gathered around.

"We were hunting a Tyraneant and it swiped him with its claws," Prompto explained hurriedly. "We tried an Elixir, and an Antidote, but it almost seems like they made it worse…"

"Can you help him?" Noctis asked.

Kimya surveyed the damage, lifting Ignis's arm and turning it this way and that. Ignis's eyelids fluttered behind his glasses, but didn't open. Noctis was sick with dread, and Kimya seemed to take forever with her assessment.

Finally, she turned to them.

"This malady, I have heard of. But until today, I had not seen it. Ancient and powerful, the foe you fought, to have inflicted such a thing."

"What'd it do to him?" Prompto was fidgeting every which way, which in turn only made Noctis more anxious.

When Kimya answered, Noctis was sure he'd misheard her.

"'Zombie,' the old texts call it."

They stared at her together for several moments, before Prompto made a strange choked noise, breaking the silence.

"'_Zombie_,'" he repeated in disbelief. "Like: shambling-corpse, likes-to-eat-brains, prone-to-extreme-violence zombie?"

Gladio let out a nervous-sounding laugh.

"No offense, Iggy, but if you come up with a new recipe right now, I'm out of here," he said.

Noctis looked back and forth between Kimya and his friends with mounting panic.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me that Ignis is… what? Undead, or something?" he demanded.

To his immense relief, though, Kimya shook her head.

"The stories you know, this is not. Cold is hot. Dry is wet. Reversed for him, everything has become. That which should heal, now does only harm."

"And if we give him a Remedy…?" Noctis asked, desperation creeping into his voice.

"Help him, it will not. Very specialized, this toxin is."

"But there IS a cure, right?" Gladio insisted.

"There is, indeed. But have it here, I do not. Special ingredients, the brew requires."

"Whatever you need - just tell us!" Noctis pleaded.

"Any of the Tyraneant's bark, did you keep?"

"Right here," Gladio said without missing a beat, handing over a sizeable chunk of the stuff. Trust Gladio to grab something useful from the battlefield. Noctis resolved to thank him profusely for it later.

Kimya inspected the offering and nodded.

"Next, a blossom from its younger brethren."

They all glanced at each other, unsure of what she meant. Treants didn't have flowers, as far as Noctis knew…

"Mandrake flower," Ignis wheezed from the bed, making them all jump. "She… she's talking about…"

"Oh, right. Got it," Gladio said, cutting him off. "You need to take it easy."

Ignis was either too weak to protest further, or he agreed with Gladio. Either way, he fell silent, and Prompto picked up the thread.

"Anyone got one handy?" he asked, patting his pockets.

"Depends… will this work?" Noctis asked, withdrawing a dried-out specimen of the flower in question from the Armiger, pressed flat between two pieces of paper. He'd picked it up a while ago and had been planning to put it in Luna's notebook the next time Umbra brought it back. Now, instead, he gave it to Kimya.

"You and your damned arts and crafts," Gladio muttered, but there was no real heat behind it.

"Suffice, this will," Kimya affirmed after a moment. "But the final part, fresh, it must be. The heart of a King Catfish - healing properties, it has."

Noctis felt dizzy. Of all the possible things… And here they'd been two for two, so far…

"I thought you said that 'healing' things would hurt him," he protested.

"Your typical curative, this is not. Just a heart, on its own, it is. But revealed, its power is, when mixed with the remains of the creature that caused this."

"At least it's a heart and not a brain…" Prompto tried to make light of it, but none of them were smiling.

Gladio crossed his arms, his brow furrowing as he thought it through.

"So basically you're saying we've got to go all the way to Alstor Slough," he said. "That's, what, a three hour drive, each way?"

"In the dark. With the daemons," Prompto added, pale as the sheets Ignis was lying on. "Is that seriously the only place you can find them?"

"Yeah," Noctis said with increasing dismay. He looked at Ignis and clenched his fists. "And none of that is counting how long it might take to catch one."

"How long do we have?" Prompto asked Kimya.

"Rapidly, the sickness spreads," she said, her expression grave. "Too late, by sunrise, likely it may be."

A pall settled over the room, punctuated by Ignis's shallow breathing.

If they couldn’t pull this off…

Noctis couldn't bear to even _think_ it.

"This is really the only way?"

"Where rots from within, the Tyraneant; full of life is the catfish. One, a creature of the wood; the other, of the water. Opposites, you see?"

Noctis didn't really, but at this point it didn't matter. He'd do whatever it took.

There was just one more problem:

In order to do this, he'd have to leave Ignis's side.

Fear twisted in his gut, crippling him with indecision.

"What are you waiting for?" Gladio asked. "Every second counts, here. We need to get a move on."

"I'll stay with Iggy," Prompto added. "Call you if anything… if anything changes."

Noctis swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.

"Up to you, it is," Kimya advised. "Ease his pain, for now, I can. But cure what ails him without the heart, I cannot."

"Yeah," Noctis said. He raked a hand through his hair. "Yeah, okay. Gladio and I'll go… Just…"

He trailed off, unable to put words to the depth of his concern.

"…Noct…"

They all turned at the rasp of Ignis's voice.

"Yeah, Specs…?"

He edged closer to the bedside.

Ignis raised his uninjured arm, shaking with the effort. Noctis caught Ignis's hand in his and grasped it tightly, but was startled as he felt Ignis press something sharp into his palm. Ignis's fingers went slack, and Noctis panicked for a moment until he heard Ignis's breath hitch as he inhaled once more. Noctis carefully set Ignis's arm back down, then opened his hand to find a slip of paper.

"The hell?"

He unfolded it and stared.

Scribbled on it in unfamiliar handwriting was what could only be a phone number. It was underlined with a signature.

Gladio snatched it from him, holding it up to see for himself before barking out a laugh, despite everything.

"Iggy, you dog."

"What is it?" Prompto asked, straining up on his toes to see.

"Aranea's phone number," Noctis said in bewilderment. What was Ignis doing with a direct line to Aranea? And why was he giving it to Noctis now, of all times?

"WHAT?!" Prompto squawked. "When?! How?! Why?!"

"Relax," Gladio drawled, rolling his eyes. "If she's nearby, this could save us a ton of time."

"…Her airship," Noctis realized, and hurried to fumble his phone from his pocket.

Of course. Leave it to Ignis to have a better plan than all of them, even when he was barely conscious. Flying would take far less time than driving. It was a long shot, but Ignis obviously thought it was worth a try, and it was _his_ life on the line, after all.

Noctis punched in the numbers as fast as he could and listened to it ring.

Aranea picked up on the second.

"Who the hell is this?"

She sounded decidedly less friendly than she had the last time they'd spoken.

Cutting straight to the chase, Noctis said, "We need your help. Ignis is… he's…"

There was a lengthy pause. Then,

"…Where are you guys?"

"Just outside Malmalam Thicket."

"So in other words: the middle of nowhere. Perfect. You know, you just interrupted my dinner."

"We'll make it up to you," Noctis promised. "Can you just… we need a lift. As fast as you can, from here to Duscae."

"Oh, is _that_ all?"

Without warning, she hollered something at her men, making Noctis have to hold the phone away from his ear. When the yelling stopped, she told him, "Alright, fine. I'll be there in twenty minutes, tops. But you're really cruising for a bruising, you hear me? King or not - when we're done with whatever this is, I'm gonna slap some manners into you."

"…Thanks, Aranea," Noctis said, meaning it.

"Yeah, yeah."

She disconnected.

"She's on her way," he informed the others.

Gladio headed outside to the main path to keep an eye out for their ride. Prompto went with him, promising to run and switch places with Noctis the moment the airship arrived. Kimya, meanwhile, bustled about the cabin, gathering all manner of odd things and putting them in a bowl together. Noctis figured that must be the pain reliever she'd mentioned.

He really hoped it helped; Ignis was looking worse with each passing minute.

Noctis sat on the edge of the bed, bouncing his leg to try to calm his nerves. He couldn't lose Ignis. Not at all, but especially not like this.

He took Ignis's hand again, away from the others' prying eyes, and held it in both of his. It was distressingly cold to the touch.

"Don't you dare die on me, Specs," he ordered, barely above a whisper.

"Never," came the hoarse reply.

The pounding of footsteps sounded outside, and Noctis released Ignis's hand just as the door banged open.

"She's here!"

Noctis got to his feet and reached into his pocket, withdrawing the Carbuncle figurine his father had given him a lifetime ago.

"Take care of him, all right?" he said to the charm and Prompto both, setting the miniature Messenger on the pillow beside Ignis's head.

"You got it," Prompto promised.

"Make haste, Your Majesty must," Kimya warned.

And so Noctis did, racing from the cabin just as Aranea's dropship came to hover overhead. He made it to Gladio's side and slung his arm around his waist without preamble, using his other arm to hurl his Engine Blade toward the ship's open door and warping them both aboard. They staggered apart as they rematerialized; Noctis didn't warp with other people often, and when he did it had a tendency to make both him and his passenger woozy.

"Warn a guy, would you?" Gladio groused, leaning against the nearest wall to recover.

"Sorry," Noctis muttered as he tried to get his bearings. "Gotta hurry."

Aranea regarded them both with a hand on her hip.

"Well, I guess that saves me the trouble of lowering a ladder."

\---

They filled her in on the way, and while she didn't drop the attitude, Noctis could tell Aranea had warmed to the idea of helping them. Not for the first time, he was grateful to have her as a newfound ally. As they'd hoped, her ship got them to their destination in a third of the time. Still, night had well and truly fallen by the time they arrived, and Noctis was on the ground before the door even finished opening.

Now came the hard part.

Noctis liked to think he'd gotten pretty good at catching fish since leaving Insomnia all those weeks ago, but fishing was only half skill. The other half was pure luck, and Noctis could only hope that luck was on his side tonight. Judging by the series of events that had led him here, he wasn't feeling particularly optimistic about it.

Swallowing against the feeling that he was goofing off instead of actually helping Ignis, he summoned his best rod and reel, set his lure, and cast as best he could in the looming darkness.

And then…

…He waited.

Aranea and Gladio approached him moments later, standing sentry in case the daemons came out to make things even worse. For now, though, the floodlights from Aranea's ship seemed to be keeping them at bay. He could hear the two of them talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

It didn't matter. He needed to concentrate.

To his surprise, though, it turned out that they weren't alone. One of Aranea's men had joined them outside - Wedge, if Noctis wasn't mistaken. He made his way off to one side without a word, and cast a line of his own.

Huh.

Well, Noctis wasn't about to turn down the help.

The things about fishing that Noctis usually enjoyed seemed unbearable tonight. The lapping of the water against the dock, the breeze whispering through the trees behind him, the relative solitude… It was as though Noctis was sharing in Ignis's affliction: everything that was supposed to be good was decidedly bad. And while normally the quiet allowed him to zone out and let his mind go blessedly blank, tonight he couldn't stop _thinking_.

All of this was his fault. Despite his best intentions, every single thing that he did seemed to delay their journey even further. The car repairs, the hunts, the errands and odd jobs, the Royal Arms, the Astrals…

Meanwhile, his father was dead, the survivors of Insomnia were displaced, Luna was a hostage in enemy territory, and now Ignis was hurt - or worse, all in the name of protecting Noctis.

He scrubbed the back of his hand across his eyes, and hoped the others would mistake it for fatigue.

It took all of his willpower to exercise patience - a key quality for any angler. Each second that ticked by, he resisted the urge to reel in his lure and re-cast it, instead giving the line a little tug from time to time, trying to draw some interest from the sluggish bottom-feeders. He got a few bites, but he could tell the moment he started reeling that they weren't the prize he was after - they were all far too light. Far too easy.

Wedge seemed to be faring about the same, dredging up small fry and removing them from contention. Noctis caught his eye, and received a solemn nod of acknowledgement.

It was weirdly comforting, coming from a Nif.

Everything really was backwards.

A loud groaning sound from across the pond made him jump, his senses on high alert, but it was just a Catoblepas settling in for the night. It shook the ground as it laid itself down in the water, and Noctis could only hope that it might wake the catfish up without scaring them away.

After what felt like hours, he finally got another bite.

This time, he met with resistance.

Fully concentrating now, he threw his weight into it, carefully tracking the fish's movements and leading it back and forth across the water, inching it closer with every pass. He heard Gladio's footfalls on the wooden boards behind him as he joined him on the dock.

"Come on…" he pleaded under his breath. His arms ached with the strain.

It had to be the right one. It just had to.

"Gladio, get ready!" he called as its struggling grew more frantic. He almost had it… Just a little more…

"I'm on it."

Gladio leapt into the water without hesitation, and a moment later, Wedge was splashing through the shallows toward them as well. Noctis spared a glance over his shoulder at Aranea.

"Don't look at me," she said. "Someone's got to stay here and make sure you boys don't end up as daemon chow."

Noctis conceded her point, in no position to argue as he tugged on the line with all his might.

Up came the catfish, and Gladio and Wedge grabbed on. It was bigger than the both of them, and Noctis banished his rod back to the Armiger, rushing to help them drag it up onto the dock. They all sat down alongside it, panting from the exertion.

"This the right one?" Aranea asked from above them, poking at it with the toe of her boot.

"Yup," Noctis affirmed, relief flooding through him.

"Fan-freaking-tastic. Hurry up and gut the damn thing so we can get out of here."

They made quick work of it between the three of them. With all three of its hearts secured in their camp cooler for good measure, Noctis offered the rest of the remains to Wedge, but Aranea nixed the idea outright.

"No way are you bringing that aboard and stinking up my ship."

Wedge looked put-out, but didn't argue. Gladio made a whip-crack sound. Wedge just shrugged.

Not wanting to waste all that effort, Noctis and Gladio stashed what else they could in the Armiger instead and the four of them re-boarded the ship. Noctis checked his phone and his own heart thudded painfully in his chest as he realized how long they'd been gone. There was a text from Prompto from just five minutes prior, letting him know that Ignis was still hanging in there, but to hurry back ASAP.

Noctis didn't need to be told twice.

\---

Aranea brought them back to the House of Hexes, and Noctis once again hit the ground running, barging inside without so much as a knock and depositing the cooler on the nearest table.

"I got the heart. Now what?"

"Returned safely, I'm glad you have," Kimya replied in her usual calm manner, appearing as if out of nowhere. "Now wait patiently, you must."

"Not more waiting," Prompto whined from his place beside the bed.

"Can it," Gladio said sharply, closing the door behind him. Then, with less of an edge, he asked, "How's he holding up?"

"Still breathing," Prompto said, shifting from foot to foot. "He's looking pretty rough, though."

He was right about that: Ignis's skin had darkened even further, and each breath he took rattled in his lungs.

Beyond caring what the others thought about it by now, Noctis grabbed the Carbuncle figurine from where he'd left it and pressed it into Ignis's hand, curling Ignis's fingers around it and holding them tight. He turned his thoughts inward, to the strange, liminal space that Titan and Ramuh had taken up when they'd granted him their blessings, and pleaded with them to keep Ignis safe for just a little longer.

He had no idea if they could hear or understand him.

Either way, he got no reply.

He could hear Kimya murmuring to herself, and the sounds of chopping and grinding as she prepared whatever arcane concoction was supposedly going to save Ignis's life. Noctis wished he knew more about it - wished this was something his magic could fix. Hated that for all his supposed power, he was left sitting by helplessly while they relied on a veritable stranger to do what she could for him.

"He hasn't said anything since you left," Prompto told them quietly. "But he's fighting it. I can tell."

"It'll take more than some stupid tree to do Iggy in," Gladio said with a great deal more bravado than Noctis felt. 

An awful, acrid smell permeated the room, and the three of them looked up to see Kimya pouring the contents of her mortar into a boiling pot on the stove.

They all grimaced together.

Tree bark, a dried flower, and a catfish heart…

"Breakfast of champions."

Prompto said what they were all thinking, and the three of them shared a humorless laugh. 

Even a dedicated foodie like Ignis would have to admit _that_ was pretty damned unpalatable.

"Finished brewing, the potion is," Kimya informed them a moment later. "Now back to the Thicket, you must bring him."

"Sorry, what?" Gladio asked, incredulous.

"Incomplete, the healing will be, if the potion, only, he consumes. In order to live, first die, he must. Complete the reversal, it will."

"Sorry, WHAT?!" Prompto choked. "That was NOT part of the deal!"

Noctis's ears were ringing again.

"Opposites are at work, as I have said. Drink the potion, he needs to. Then beneath the water, he must rest. When it has worked, awaken, he will."

"And if he doesn't?" Gladio demanded.

Kimya spread her hands.

"Then done all we can, we will have."

"So… we give him the potion, and then… what? Hold him underwater in the river?" Noctis asked numbly.

Kimya nodded.

"Trust in him, you do, yes?"

"Yeah, of course, but--"

"Then, go."

\---

They went.

Back up the mountain in the dead of night, with Ignis on Gladio's back and Noctis and Prompto doing their level best to get the jump on anything that crossed their path. By what Noctis could only assume was the grace of the two gods he was carrying around, the daemons left them be, and they made it back to the site of their battle in record time and with minimal beastly encounters.

The water was absolutely frigid, and they were all soaked through and shaking by the time they maneuvered Ignis into position. Noctis carefully removed Ignis's glasses and hooked them to the neck of his own t-shirt for safekeeping. Then he withdrew Kimya's potion from the Armiger. The murky liquid was still warm.

"_Ugh_," Prompto said for all of them as Noctis uncorked the bottle and held it to Ignis's lips.

They all shivered in silence as Noctis poured its highly questionable contents down Ignis's throat. Ignis, for his part, made no protest whatsoever, lying deathly still in Noctis's arms.

"That's messed up," Gladio muttered.

"Total heebie-jeebies," Prompto agreed.

"Tell me something I don't know," Noctis ground out.

He was scared out of his godsdamned mind at what they were about to do.

When the bottle was empty, he cast it aside and shuffled backward, lowering Ignis slowly as he went. At last, he withdrew his trembling hands, and with nothing left to support him, Ignis sank beneath the shallow water.

They all held their collective breath, waiting for something to happen as the rapids continued to swirl around them in the darkness.

Prompto wrapped his arms tightly around himself, his eyes riveted to the spot where Ignis had vanished.

Gladio's jaw was clenched against the chattering of his teeth, and Noctis could see he was wound up tight, ready to spring into action the second something went wrong.

Except that everything about this was already wrong.

"Guys…" Prompto whimpered.

"You heard what Kimya said," Gladio said tersely. "He's gonna wake up. He has to."

But nothing was happening.

Every second felt like a lifetime.

Noctis couldn't take it anymore.

He plunged his arms back into the frigid current--

\--and Ignis shot up with a gasp, coughing for all he was worth.

Prompto yelped in alarm, flailing backward and ending up under the water himself. Gladio got to use his pent-up energy after all, crossing the river in record time to haul Prompto out by the back of his vest. Meanwhile, Noctis put a hesitant hand on Ignis's back, trying to help him rid his lungs of everything they'd just subjected him to. In the glare of his flashlight, Noctis could see that the wound on Ignis's arm was gone without a trace, and his color had returned to normal. He breathed out a shaky sigh.

"What are we doing here?" Ignis asked, his whole body quaking from the cold. "And why does my mouth taste _offal_?"

"Easy, Specs," Noctis said, helping him to his feet and leading him to the riverbank. He handed over his glasses, which Ignis put on, frowning at the water speckling them but making no move to clean them.

"You freaking _died_, dude!" Prompto exclaimed, then sputtered as Gladio dumped him unceremoniously onto his ass on the rocks. "Oh, come on! That's totally gonna bruise…"

"Serves you right," Gladio said, taking a seat on Ignis's other side. "Anyway, what he means is, it's good to have you back with us."

"I was getting to that!" Prompto protested, trying - and failing - to shove Gladio back into the water in retaliation.

Ignis gave Noctis a searching look, and Noctis glanced aside, unable to meet his eyes.

"Apologies," Ignis said softly. "The last thing I recall is assuring you that I had no intention of dying, but it seems I may have inadvertently broken that promise."

"Only you would apologize for something like that," Gladio said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey guys?" Prompto asked suddenly.

"Yeah?" Noctis prompted.

"Not for nothing, but I think we're ALL gonna die if we don't get warm soon."

He had a point. They were all soaking wet, their breaths forming tiny clouds every time they exhaled.

"Indeed. I would hate to have put you through all this trouble only for us to end up with hypothermia," Ignis agreed.

And so they put their discussion on pause long enough to slog their way back to Kimya's house, reasoning that none of them had it in them to set up camp, and that her place would be much warmer than the tent.

\---

The next morning, they all managed to wake before Ignis.

"This really IS the zombie apocalypse," Prompto stage-whispered, earning himself a pillow to the face.

Kimya took the liberty of fixing breakfast for them while Ignis rested, and while they were all a little leery of what she might have put in it, it turned out that her knack for potion-making translated into a knack for cooking as well. When Ignis did finally join them, he jotted a few things down in his notebook.

He also insisted on doing the dishes afterward, to repay her for helping to save his life.

Noctis offered to pay her for her services as well, considering that she _was_ running a potion shop, here, but she declined him outright.

"Rid these woods of the Tyraneant, you boys did, and been through enough, you have."

After everything that had happened, all four of them were more than ready to move on with their journey and put the entire ordeal behind them. They parted ways with Kimya, and had almost reached the Regalia when Ignis paused and motioned Noctis aside.

"What's up?" Noctis asked.

"About yesterday…" Ignis began, and Noctis immediately shook his head.

"Seriously, Specs; don't apologize," he pleaded. "It could have happened to any of us."

"…I just wanted to thank you," Ignis finished.

Noctis rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of how to respond. He didn't feel like he deserved any kind of thanks, considering that it was his own foolishness that had gotten Ignis hurt so badly in the first place. If he had been paying more attention to his own limitations, Ignis wouldn't have had to throw himself in front of that attack, and then maybe…

That line of thought was cut off as Ignis gently took hold of his hand. Turning Noctis's palm upward, he placed the Carbuncle figurine atop it.

"You truly did everything you could to save me, Noct. It means more to me than you know."

Noctis stared hard at the ground.

"Yeah, well. You would have done the same."

Ignis hummed in agreement and released his hand. Noctis stuffed the charm back in his pocket.

Both of them looked up in tandem as they heard Gladio hollering for them to hurry it up.

"I suppose that's our cue," Ignis said. "Shall we?"

"I'll drive," Noctis blurted suddenly. At Ignis's look of surprise, he added, "Y'know, since you're still recovering."

Ignis chuckled.

"While I appreciate that your heart's in the right place, I think I've had enough near-death experiences for the time being."

Noctis gawked at him.

"Hey! My driving is NOT that bad."

"Tell that to my blood pressure."

Noctis laughed, quiet but genuine, and Ignis smiled at him fondly. It struck him in that moment just how deeply glad he was that Ignis was alive and well, and how lucky he was to have him by his side.

Even if he _was_ using his new lease on life to crack jokes at Noctis's expense.

Noctis wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
